This Centre organized a Workshop on Training and Capacity building in Conservation and Management of Trans-boundary Protected Areas of Sundarbans, in Kolkotta , India from 20th -23rd March 2011 in collaboration with the Directorate of Forests, Government of West Bengal, India. The workshop was part of Center’s initiative on regional capacity building in the South Asian regions to increase awareness in sustainable coastal ecosystems and resource management and also increasing preparedness and adaptive capacity of the coastal communities towards impact of climate change.
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The workshop primarily aimed at knowledge sharing, capacity building and lessons learnt in conservation and management of Sundarbans which is a unique ecosystem, a world heritage site dominated by mangrove forests and spread in two countries i.e., India and Bangladesh. It is one of the last preserves of the Bengal tiger and the site of a major tiger preservation project. Sundarbans is one of the world’s largest deltas and the largest estuarine mangrove forest in the world. Rivers in the Sundarbans are meeting places of salt water and freshwater. Thus, it is a region of transition between the freshwater of the rivers originating from the Ganges and the saline water of the Bay of Bengal and provides a vast array of coastal habitats rich in biodiversity. The main objective of the regional workshop was to share experience, knowledge and develop an understanding about the lesson learnt in conservation and management of Sundarbans and its coastal ecosystems with community interface.
About 30 experts who include experts from the four SAARC countries such as Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka, from Forest Directorate Government of West Bengal, from IUCN –MFF India and from Calcutta University participated in the workshop. About 20 presentations covering various aspects on coastal ecosystem and resources management, coastal regulations, natural disaster, biodiversity, carbon sequestration and mapping, impact of climate change, ecodevelopment and community interface in the specific reference of Sundarbans were delivered during the workshop proceedings.
As expected the workshop has been useful in developing an understanding about the coastal conservation and management initiatives taken in Sundarbans by the Forest Directorate, including significant emphasis on community based initiatives to protect the rich mangrove and other ecosystems in Sundarbans. The Workshop has also been significant in providing key contribution and an opportunity to the participants to have an insight to the basic problems and core conservation and management issues of Sundarbans protected areas.
During the workshop, the expert presentation from the Forest Directorate, host institution, from SAARC nations and from IUCN- MFF-India have provided a common platform for sharing experience and knowledge on coastal / marine protected areas with reference to their conservation and management and also in the event of climate change impact on these important ecosystems. It is also realized that the workshop has been successful in enhancing our understanding of the critical importance of coastal resources conservation and their sustainable utilization in addressing the environmental, livelihood and food security for the people in the region.
Click here to download report of the workshop, 2 MB
